Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to systems and methods for providing account-based products, and more particularly to systems and methods for providing and configuring pre-paid multicards.
Background
Retailers and financial institutions currently offer pre-paid account cards of various denominations (e.g., $10, $20, $50, or $100) for sale in an inactive state. For example, a buyer may select a $50 gift card, and provide a corresponding retailer with funds equivalent to the $50 denomination of the gift card. The retailer may then “activate” the purchased gift card, which may be loaded with $50 in equivalent spendable funds. The buyer or any other individual may use the activated card to purchase goods and services from participating retailers. Further, after purchasing such goods and services, the buyer may provide additional funds to the retailer, who may “re-load” the card with the additional funds to facilitate future purchases.
By way of example, the buyer may purchase multiple prepaid account cards to reserve until needed as last-minute gifts, to give as incentives, or for other purposes. In these instances, an initial investment of capital may be required to load the prepaid account cards at the time of purchase. Thus, customary methods of purchasing and/or re-loading such prepaid account cards require an initial investment of capital by the buyer (e.g., to provide an initial balance on the prepaid account cards), and the buyer's initial capital investment may be “tied up” capital until the buyer uses the account cards or provides the account cards as gifts. In addition, between the time of purchase and the time of use or gift, the buyer may be subject to undue risk of financial loss due to theft, or damage, or loss of the activated and fully funded prepaid cards. Further, fees associated with such prepaid account cards may reduce a balance available to the buyer, or alternatively, to a recipient of gift cards. The disclosed embodiments provide methods and systems that address these and other concerns regarding conventional account instruments.